Cost issues of spatial ALD challenged by ISFH and SoLayTec

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 19:15 (PV-Tech)

A conversion efficiency of 20.1% has been demonstrated by the collaboration between the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH) and commercial partner SoLayTec on a monocrystalline boron-doped Czochralski p-type silicon wafer using a PERC-based solar cell. Read more

Raising the CPV Bar: New Efficiency Records for Solar Cells And Modules

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 18:32 (Renewable Energy World)

Four months after revealing a record 43.5-percent four-junction concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) cell, a European partnership has added a full point to that mark, touting a new 44.7-percent efficient four-junction CPV cell. The group includes Soitec, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), CEA-Leti, and the Helmholtz Center Berlin. Read more

Kawa Capital Management acquires Conergy UK

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 16:34 (Solarpowerportal)

US-based asset management firm, Kawa Capital Management, has acquired four more of PV system manufacturer and developer Conergy’s sales units. Read more

Lux Research: Current PV technologies will fall short of DOE cost targets

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

Prevalent crystalline photovoltaics technologies are unlikely to meet targets set under a US government solar programme to reduce the installed cost of PV in America, according to research. Read more

CSP Progress Report: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 21:15 (Renewable Energy World)

Some of the planet's biggest solar energy plants are about to come online in the U.S., showcasing the promise and potential of both large utility-scale solar energy and in particular concentrating solar power (CSP) technology. Read more

India targets 10GW of solar by 2017

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 17:15 (PV-Tech)

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has unveiled ambitious plans for expanding the country’s solar capacity, setting a target of 10GW by 2017. Read more

Asset Seizure Complicates Suntech Solar Bankruptcy

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:49 (Renewable Energy World)

Someone should write a book about solar panel superstar Suntech (NYSE: STP), whose the incredible rise and spectacular fall has taken yet another intriguing twist with word that some of its major assets have been seized by a court in Italy. The Italian angle is just the latest turn in this international story of a company founded by an Australian-e Read more

SunPower's new 70 MW solar PV project in Chile to sell merchant power

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:44 (Solarserver)

Total SA (Paris) and Etrion Corp. (Geneva) have announced that they will build a 70 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Northern Chile which will sell the power it generates on the spot electricity market. Read more

PV producer Innotech Solar and German electronics distributor FEGA & Schmitt to start sales partnership

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:41 (Solarserver)

On September 25th, 2013, Innotech Solar AS (ITS, Narvik, Norway) announced a sales partnership for its solar photovoltaic (PV) modules with electronics distributor FEGA & Schmitt (Ansbach, Germany). “The renewable energy sector is one of the most important growth markets for our electronics distribution company, especially given the soaring price of electricity. More and more customers want to produce their own electricity for on-site consumption,” stated Alexander Schopf of FEGA & Schmitt’s renewable energy division. Read more

DECC: 777 MW of solar PV commissioned in the UK in the first eight months of 2013

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:36 (Solarserver)

The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released statistics on energy production and use in the UK, including updated information on deployment of solar photovoltaics (PV), bringing together statistics from a number of sources for the first time. Read more

Standard Energy Solutions selected by DC SUN after solar bulk purchase agreement in Washington

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:34 (Solarserver)

Standard Energy Solutions (SES), a company of Standard Solar (Rockville, MD, USA), has been selected by participants of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood solar bulk purchase to provide solar energy to more than 30 District of Columbia residences. As a result of a competitive request for proposal (RFP) organized by DC Solar United Neighborhoods (DC SUN) coalition (Washington, DC, USA) a group of residents of Mt. Pleasant and Ward 1 neighborhoods in Washington now have the opportunity to collectively go solar, reducing their energy and solar photovoltaic (PV) installation costs. Read more

Financial woes at LDK Solar continue

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

The continued dire financial position of LDK Solar has been highlighted again with a forbearance arrangement being agreed with bondholders over failure to meet interest payments on a previously partially defaulted bond. Read more

K Road Power sells 250MW Moapa PV project to First Solar

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

First Solar has acquired K Road Power’s planned 250MW ‘Moapa Solar Project’ in Nevada, US, the latest development in a recent flurry of activity by the thin-film manufacturer and project developer to replenish its PV project pipeline. Read more

Report: Large-scale solar demand in Japan to fall as domestic PV grows to 2020

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:15 (PV-Tech)

Demand for large-scale PV in Japan will drop rapidly after 2014, while residential solar will continue growing until 2020, according to Tokyo-based market research body the Yano Research Institute. Read more

JinkoSolar raises US$67.8 million in share offering

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

JinkoSolar has raised the target US$67.8 million in its recently announced American depositary shares (ADS) offering. Read more

Solar Shakeout: Conergy sells four sales units, but job losses expected

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 14:15 (PV-Tech)

US based asset management firm, Kawa Capital Management, has acquired four more of PV system manufacturer and developer Conergy’s sales units. Read more

Brink: Aruba's Bright Solar Vision, Clouded Bureaucracy

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 13:24 (Renewable Energy World)

Solar is the most used word in my vocabulary. For ten years that I have been talking, writing, and promoting solar power. The next year of my life is about solar nation building. I am chronicling the ‘brink’ of solar power from the frontlines as my family and I move around in search of ‘natural’ solar markets — where solar is cheaper than utility p Read more

SunPower to build 70MW unsubsidised solar plant in Chile

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 12:55 (PV-Tech)

US PV company SunPower is to build Project Salvador, an unsubsidised 70MWp PV power plant in the Atacama Desert region of Chile. Read more

Solar Growth Outpaces Wind for First Time

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 11:23 (Renewable Energy World)

A strong showing from global solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, coupled with a sharp fall in new wind capacity, has led to solar growth outpacing wind this year – for the first time ever. Read more

Clean Power Finance launches O&M service for residential systems

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 10:15 (PV-Tech)

Clean Power Finance yesterday announced its launch of an online product to match vendors with system service agents - a move that could soothe investor concerns over risks associated with long-term operations and management of residential solar systems. Read more

Power-One to introduce solar power storage solution at Solar Energy UK

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 10:13 (Solarserver)

Power-One Inc. (Camarillo, California, U.S.) will showcase its first residential energy storage solution at the Solar Energy UK trade show in Birmingham, England from October 8th-10th, 2013. The Renewable Energy Accumulator and Conversion Technology (REACT) will be commercially available in 2014. REACT consists of a 4.6 kW single-phase Power-One inverter and a lithium-ion battery, which will provide 2 kWh of usable capacity. PowerOne notes that the solution will allow home owners and other property owners to store electricity produced by their PV systems at times with higher energy demand. Read more

Chilean Presidential Candidate Michelle Bachelet campaigns on solar, commissions study on energy sector reform

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 10:11 (Solarserver)

Chilean Presidential Candidate Michelle Bachelet (PS) has made advocacy of solar technologies an issue in her campaign. Solar is featured as the centerpiece of her policies for sustainability on the front page of her campaign website, including prominent mention of the solar photovoltaic (PV) system at her campaign headquarters. Additionally, a commission organized by the New Majority coalition candidate and former president has issued a report calling for multiple changes to the nation's energy sector. These include the transformation of state-owned oil company Enap (Santiago, Chile) into a “national energy company” to play a greater role in energy strategy and security Read more

NREL releases roadmap for U.S. solar PV “soft cost” reduction

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 9:03 (Solarserver)

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL, Golden, Colorado, U.S.) has issued a new report which sets a roadmap for reduction of non-hardware “soft” costs for U.S. residential and commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. “Non-Hardware ('Soft') Cost-Reduction Roadmap for Residential and Small Commercial Solar Photovoltaics, 2013-2020” charts a path to achieve the DOE's SunShot program targets of USD 0.65/watt for residential PV systems and USD 0.44/watt for commercial systems by 2020. Read more

NPD Solarbuzz: TBEA to become China's largest solar PV EPC in 2013

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 9:00 (Solarserver)

NPD Solarbuzz (Santa Clara, California, U.S.) has released information on the top engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors in China's solar photovoltaic (PV) industry, predicting that Tebian Electric Apparatus (TBEA, Changji, China) will become the nation's leading PV EPC in 2013 with more than 800 MW installed. TBEA has already installed more than 600 MW in the first three quarters of the year, to replace GD Solar Co. Ltd. (Yixing, China) in first place. All together, the top ten EPC contractors, which also includes Zhenfa New Energy (Wuxi, China) and Yingli Solar (Baoding, China) represented 40% of end-market demand. Read more

Lux Research: Current solar PV technologies won't reach U.S. DOE goal

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 8:49 (Solarserver)

Lux Research Inc. (Boston) has issued a report which finds that the current dominant solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies will not meet a target to reduce installed solar photovoltaic (PV) costs to USD 1-1.50 per watt by 2030, set by the U.S. Department of Energy through for its SunShot Program. “Continuing Education: Going Back to School for Photovoltaic Innovation” finds that prices are likely to be 13% above targets of USD 1 per watt for utility-scale PV, USD 1.25 per watt for commercial PV, and USD 1.50 per watt for residential PV in 2030. It also finds that technological innovations around crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV are likely to come the closest to these goals. Read more

Wormlike hematite photoanode breaks world-record for solar hydrogen production efficiency

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:54 (Solarserver)

The science journal Scientific Reports on September 17th, 2013, released the results of the research “Single-crystalline, wormlike hematite photoanodes for efficient solar water splitting”. Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) (Ulsan, South Korea), developed a “wormlike” hematite photoanode converting sunlight and water to clean hydrogen energy with an efficiency of 5.3%. Read more

Going All In with Renewable Energy

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 22:15 (Renewable Energy World)

After a monster tornado wiped out Greensburg, Kansas in 2007, killing 11 people, the community decided to rebuild with meaning. It set out to become one of the world's greenest communities. Read more

NREL starting road mapping initiative on PV ‘soft costs’

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 18:15 (PV-Tech)

In tandem with a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on PV installation ‘soft costs’ an NREL and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) supported cost reduction roadmap with industry participation is to be launched. Read more

Electrovaya receives first order for Lithium-Ion battery based energy storage systems from the UAE

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:47 (Solarserver)

Electrovaya Inc. (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) on September 24th, 2013, announced that it has received a USD 1 million purchase order from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The order follows intensive testing of Electrovaya’s Lithium Ion SuperPolymer 2.0 battery under field conditions, and is the first order from the Middle East. The Electrovaya energy storage systems will consist of its 2.0 cells along with its latest mechanical and electrical technology and Battery Management System (BMS). Read more

Six Myths About Renewable Energy, and Seven Answers

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 15:31 (Renewable Energy World)

Keith Johnson, writing recently in the Wall Street Journal, does a commendably even-handed job laying out “Six Myths About Renewable Energy.”   Citing the rapid progress renewables have made in recent years, he concludes that “Many of the debating points we hear today are based on outdated facts and assumptions that don't hold up anymore.” Of the s Read more

Russia Awards First Renewable Energy Tender to Boost the Industry

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 13:48 (Renewable Energy World)

Russia, the world’s biggest oil producer, offered its first state support for renewable energy by awarding subsidies to 39 clean power ventures. Read more

US Navy Program 'Excelerates' Alternative Energy

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 13:00 (Renewable Energy World)

As the US Department of the Navy (DON) continues to emphasize the need for energy security, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced earlier this month that it will increase its support for Energy Excelerator, a Hawaii-based program that funds development of new and innovative energy ideas. Read more

California Decision May Accelerate Energy Efficiency Financing

Thursday, 9.26.2013 - 12:43 (Renewable Energy World)

A new market-shaping decision took place at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Sept. 19. To increase the state’s reliance on private capital for energy efficiency financing, the CPUC allocated $65.9 million for a suite of financing pilot programs for the state’s investor-owned utilities. California’s multipronged approach could lead to original solutions that other states might adopt. Read more